That Was Just Once
by Purple Mongoose
Summary: A Duo/Ami vignette I've had lying around on my hard drive for over a year. I'm not too sure what it's about myself, but, nonetheless, here it is, on ff.net for the first time. [Complete]


*looks around wildly* You'll never take me alive! And, yes, this fanfic IS strange.  
Genre: Romance.  
Rating: PG? If you want 'out of five stars', don't expect any. This is one aw-FUL fanfic!  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. So there. *&.^*   
  
Warning: Non-yaoi, GW/SM crossover, Duo Maxwell/Amy Anderson (since I've only seen the dubs for both series! And, personally, I *liked* Amy's original voice. *grumbles* You know, the British one.). Duo's...mmmm, fourteen in the fic, Amy's thirteen.   
  
Summary: What if, by accident or design, Amy Anderson-aka Sailor Mercury-was 'reincarnated' in an alternate universe, where Duo Maxwell had been 'misplaced' by a shockwave emanating from the Imperium Silver Crystal? Basically, the two meet and become attached to each other....only to learn 'they' were a mistake.  
  
Note: I told you it was gonna be sta-RANGE. Your fault for reading! *grins goofily*  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
That Was Just Once...  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
By PallaPlease.  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
An explosion tore through the night air, shattering the relatively tranquil feeling that had pervaded throughout the region. A shudder ran underneath the gentle hills, drips of smoke oozing away from the collapsed factory structure, a solitary figure stealing away without a sound, into the pitch darkness.  
  
A cold smile twitched across his face, void of emotion or regret. Suddenly, with no warning, a silver light engulfed him, tearing him from the cloth of that Earth.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"AAAAAAAAMYYYYYYY!!!"  
  
The blue-haired thirteen-year old winced, hugging her textbooks to her developing chest and sighing regrettably. An older woman with vibrant red hair and beady green eyes waved cheerily from her front porch. Though still in her early twenties, Ms. Erica Johnson complained constantly over the unfairness of 'old age' every morning to Amy, resulting in her being, according to the normal middle school schedule, tardy.  
  
"Hello Ms. Johnson, I'd really love to stay and chat, but I reeeeeally have to get to school," Amy pleaded, giving Erica her most irrestible puppy look, only to fail.   
  
"Nonsense, why I should know you'll make it to school on time! You always do, don't you? Such a bright girl, and lovely, to boot! When I was your age, the boys would fawn over me like little deer! That was a joke, dearie!" As the woman chattered incessantly, Amy sighed again in defeat, taking a seat on the porch step and resting her elbow on the pile of textbooks in her lap, chin resting, in turn, in the palm of her hand.   
  
Idly glancing about the neighborhood, Amy felt a gentle breeze sweep through the bobbed locks of her unusually natural blue hair, resigning herself to her fate. And then she saw him.  
  
Somewhat tall, he had brown hair reaching his waist, woven tightly into a thick braid, intense violet eyes burning from under his bangs. Dressed in the school's uniform, his stride lazy and confident, he glanced over at the dumbstruck Anderson girl, her head lifted from her hand, and he grinned.   
  
"Hey!" he called, and she felt her cheeks heat, covering them with her hands to hide the bright flush. Erica fell silent and watched him suspiciously as he changed his stroll in their direction. Sniffing with an imperial air, she muttered under her breath and stalked back inside the house haughtily.   
  
Smiling down at her, backpack slung over one shoulder and his hands on his hips, he winked, causing her face to turn a brighter shade of red.   
  
"I'm Duo. First day here."  
  
Letting out her breath silently, in relief at the fact that all he wanted was directions to the school-no doubt-, she smiled kindly.   
  
"I am Amy Anderson. If you need to get to the middle school, I'm going there as well." He cocked an eyebrow at her soft, unique speech and shrugged, holding out his slightly tanned hand. With a nervous, apprehensive look, she grasped the offered hand, pulling herself up, textbooks tightly clutched in her hands.   
  
"It's this way." Briskly, she began the trek toward the school, trailed by Duo.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"I am Sailor Mercury, the pretty soldier of wisdom!"  
  
With a gasp, she sat up straight as a rod in her bed, blindly searching her room with her wild blue eyes, frightened witless without reason. Touching her sweaty forehead with one hand, she blinked her eyes rapidly, calming herself by kneading her hands into the clean sheets. Squeezing her eyes shut, she felt tears well up within them, streaking down her cheeks, the sobs that began slowly gaining force, her thin body racked by the jerky motions.  
  
Three houses down, a young man awoke in a similar state, shivering as he heard a voice so much like his own declaring he was 'Shinigami.'   
  
God of Death.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"So you divide the numerals like th-DUO!"  
  
The ninth-grader sat up sharply, suddenly on the defense as he wildly stared around the room. Amy shook her head and rolled her eyes, poking her student's shoulder with her pencil eraser.   
  
"Pay attention, lazy-head," she teased companionably, forcing him to stare at his Algebra text. He groaned audibly, sliding down the sofa to glare ominously at the paper before him  
  
In the background, the humming of Mrs. Anderson in the kitchen blended pleasantly with the gently explaining voice of his tutor, lulling him back into a wonderful world of sleep...  
  
"DUO!"  
  
The process repeated itself a few more times before Amy, tired of waking the young Maxwell up repeatedly, slammed their textbooks shut and grabbed a half-asleep, bewildered Duo by his shoulders. Yanking him to his feet and yelling something to her mother, Amy pulled him out of the front door and outside.   
  
"Mr. Maxwell," started Amy, voice quiet and dangerous, "I am tutoring you because you are having difficulties focusing in class." The chilly wind blowing absently across the front steps swirled both his hair and hers around, catching the wisps swiftly. He stared at his feet, listening to her.  
  
"I can NOT assist you if you don't cooperate."  
  
"Yeah, well, if it wasn't for those stupid dreams I keep having," he snapped foully, then realized the error of his words. Closing his mouth as her face turned ashen, he swallowed thickly, backing up a little. 'What kind of a lame-ass excuse was that?' he scolded himself mentally.  
  
Her response was nothing he had been expecting.  
  
"You've been having them too?" she whispered, hopefully.   
  
Duo hesitated for a moment. "Yeah. There's...a voice. It sounds kinda like me, you know?" She nodded. "And he-me-whatever, calls himself Shinigami.' " She bit her lip, eyes clouding. "God of Death," he translated softly, almost to himself.  
  
"In...my...dream," she started haltingly, "I hear 'my' voice and I'm saying something along the lines of 'I am Sailor Mercury, pretty soldier of wisdom' or the like."  
  
An uncomfortable silence lapsed between them.   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Shielded by the Gates of Time, the lone Sailor stood, weapon, and tool, at hand. Sailor Pluto gathered together her strength.   
  
"I am sorry, Mercury. You and he cannot be."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
As they stood, facing each other, Duo touched the side of her face. Startled, she looked up, eyes wide and searching.   
  
"I'm so sorry," he grated out, then brushed his lips against hers, sweetly.  
  
A flash of silver appeared, destroying a world that never should have been.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Hey, Amy!"   
  
Amy raised her head, squinting at the bright sunlight streaming down on her. She was sitting in a worn child's swing, an ankle long green skirt accenting the yellow sweater she was wearing.   
  
Serena Tsukino tilted her head to one side, staring inquisitively. "Hey, Ames, you okay? You looked really out there for a moment."  
  
Amy wrinkled her eyebrows, trying to recall a memory that was evading her like a faded photograph.   
  
"I'm fine, Serena. Just...trying to remember something."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Duo, wake UP!"   
  
Literally tumbling out of bed, the wisecracking Gundam pilot glared hostilely at the irritated Arab standing above him.   
  
"I'm up, I'm up, Quatre. Or...I'm down." Grinning at his own corny joke, he began the painstaking process of untangling the covers wrapped around his legs.   
  
Quatre rolled his light blue eyes, then turned to leave the room.  
  
For a second, Duo paused, his hair half out of its braid. Creasing his brow, he thought hard. 'Something I want to remember...'  
  
The smell of breakfast reached him and the morning became real.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
OWARI  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Author's Notes on 02/12/02: I wrote this about...well, dang, over a year ago. Like November of 2000, maybe a week or two after I got my first (of three...;]) ff.net accounts. 0o; I sent it into a GW Crossover website - heck, that's why I wrote this, to send it in - and they never posted it. Any wonder why? *winks* I wrote the entire thing in less than a half hour in an e-mail on AOL, sent it in, and, in a rare moment of intelligence, saved the e-mail to my hard drive. Low and behold, as I'm scouring through the hard drive today, saving what I want on disks, I stumble across this. Only two days ago, I was hoping I'd find it soon so I could delete all the weird things and post it. Duo=two. Coincidence? Of course!  
  
Anyway, it took a humongous amount of willpower to not throw in whole paragraphs and scenes. I only changed three things - an accidental misspelling of 'her' as 'ehr' and Duo's references to his dream. Originally, he only said 'God of Death.' I changed it to Shinigami just 'cause Shinigami sounds so much neater. *&.^* Now, keep in mind that this is sparce, the thing is generally a vignette, and characterization is lacking. But, heck, it's pretty darn advanced for the crap I was writing back in November of 2000. (Although others don't seem to call it crap. They actually compliment it and say they're amazed at the detailing, the plots, and the characterization. Go figure.)   
  
If anybody made it all the way through this without: a) growing nauseated at the horridity of it, b) hurling objects at the computer screen, c) rolling their eyes, or d) taking any trip more than five minutes away from the computer, then you have my respect and admiration. And I'll write a GW/SM crossover of your choice. ;.p No lie! First person to reply that they did neither of the above gets a fic. (And, no, that's not bribery. I just really want to write a fic for someone. I never get to do it for my friends and nobody ever requests anything. *sad face* Heck, if more than one person wants me to write a GW/SM fic for them, I will!) (Oh, and about that offer: a new chapter for my GW/SM fic "Crossed and Damned" is not an option. *^.&* I'm already working on it.)  
  
{Reviews: they make me want to dance and sing and write more fanfics. Get the picture? Yay!} 


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